Buy a plane ticket way in advance or right before leaving, which is cheaper?
I can take a vacation any time, so I'm just looking for the lowest price I can find. In general, is it better to buy a ticket 3-6 months before or a week before you go to get the lowest prices.
My thinking is that if you wait until the last minute, an airline with empty seats on a plane will dramatically reduce it's ticket prices to fill those last few seats.
Does this ever happen?
The prices generally don't drop dramatically for last minute tickets. I don't know if it is still the case, but the prices used to sky rocket if you tried to buy a ticket the last few days before the flight.
Generally though the 3-6 month window is not the place to find great prices. (longer than 6 months you often can find cheaper tickets and if there are a lot of unsold seats the 1-2 month range can be good). BUT, that can certainly change at any moment as the airlines my have a sudden (and brief sale) that you could take advantage of. I would check out some websites like Kayak or others where you can set price alerts that can be sent to you as prices change. Since all the pricing is controlled by algorithms you have to be ready to take advantage of cheap flights. Also google flights is nice to get a look at the different prices for different days over a long period of time.
Way in advance
YES it does happen if a flight has lots of unsold seats they can drop the price. Suggest you sign up for some fare alerts on your destinations of choice,
A little common sense, DO NOT expect a price drop to the most popular places at peak travel season. Be prepared to travel Tuesdays and Wednesdays to places others are not flocking too.
Because of the grounding of dozens of planes for the next many months do not expect many empty seats until after the summer rush.
a little searching and you can find for some places a cheaper Airport Burbank is not far from LAX Oakland not far from San Francisco.
SEAT SALES happen with little notice and sell out a few hours or maybe a day. Jump on the deal an d just go the random cheap place.
DRAMATICALLY reduce probably not. It does cost them to haul your extra weight they do want at least the cost of extra fuel to haul you and your stuff.
Some airlines when they first post a flight about a year ahead will have a cheap price for the first few. For that just search ahead as far as possible until they do not list a fare. In a day or two it will appear.
It happens. Usually the cheapest last minute flights/cancellation tickets are the ones with hotel stay included, there you can normally get a pretty good deal. I think it's because they don't overbook these type of trips.
For flights only, many airlines will slightly overbook, so it can be difficult to find a last minute deal. Also you probably won't be saving much, compared to the regular ticket price.
If you have a certain destination in mind, I wouldn't risk it if I were you. Then rather order way in advance and get the better deal there.
Buying at the last minute usually involves an expensive fare. There are certainly exceptions, but this is usually the case. You only get a last-minute deal if the flight is highly undersold and they are looking to fill more seats. That rarely happens anymore, especially on flights to popular destinations. Flights are almost always full these days.
The best time to book is usually 6-10 weeks in advance for domestic flights, and 4-6 months in advance for international flights. There are certainly exceptions to this as well. Being flexible with your travel dates and your airports (if possible) can also sometimes help you find better fares.
2-3 months is generally cheaper and a good balance between price and availability.
It's cheaper to buy tickets in advance. The cheaper fares sell out first driving prices higher the closer you get to the departure date
Depends
There are no reliable rules here.
For domestic flights, roughly 3 weeks beforehand gives you a good price. For international, 2 to 3 months ahead or more, depending on the location
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